The Chain of Dream's Temptation
by Angelikah
Summary: In 1043 they'd been in love, but by 2052, lies and betrayal were their foundation, as was unconditional forgiveness. When she touches a necklace that grants wishes, Caroline's pulled into a parallel universe where she isn't an Original, and that Caroline takes her place, stuck in a world where Klaus's love is a poison. To get back, both must learn to be careful what they wish for.
1. Chapter 1

Another birthday present that got out of hand. This is for soapmaniac22, aka she-walked-away on tumblr. She requested human viking wooing and it turned into this. I hope you all like it. This should also be short-ish (about five or six chapters). This takes place in two parallel universes. One is TVD universe, and the other has Original!Caroline. Let me know if it's followable, because it's hard to mark the switch between the two universes.

Thank you to garglyswoof for betaing.

* * *

 **New York City, 2052**

Caroline tightened her coat around her as she walked down the city streets, her heels clicking on the pavement. She wasn't exactly in a rush, but over the past thousand years she'd learned not to take any chances. Just because the stupid relic had been in the witch's shop two days ago didn't mean that it was still there. A lot could happen in mere hours, let alone days.

She'd managed to track down one of the Bennett witches, who had enchanted a bracelet to make her pass as a human to witches when worn. It clinked against her wrist now, and she tried not to look too apprehensive as the bell rang over the shop door.

The girl at the register looked up at her and muttered a quick 'let me know if you need any help' before boredly returning to her phone. This suited Caroline just fine, as she'd rather not get too close.

The shop was cramped, and it only took Caroline a few minutes to find the ancient spellbook. She'd been looking for the damned thing for years, and now that she'd finally found it, everything felt a bit anti-climactic. Still, now she'd be able to protect herself. She sat down on the floor, glancing at the girl at the cash register again to make sure she wasn't watching, and opened the book to find the cloaking ritual she needed.

She muttered the ingredients to herself, pulling out her phone to take a picture of the pages, and when she saw the last one she almost groaned out loud. "Blood of the one who hunts you," she muttered to herself exasperatedly. "Of course. The one thing that'll be practically impossible to get."

For just one moment she had thought that everything would be fine, that she could get the ritual done and wouldn't have to run anymore, but now her heart sank.

Running from her husband was exhausting, and she was so _tired_ of the fear of being put down for years at a time if she angered him. He loved her, she knew that, but sometimes his protection felt like poison.

"I wish he couldn't dagger me. He'd be much more careful that way," she muttered, slamming the book shut and leaning back against the shelf before hissing in pain. She turned to see a pretty necklace that had poked into her neck when she'd leaned back, and she huffed.

When people put things back on shelves, they should make sure they weren't _dangling_ everywhere. It was just common courtesy.

Whatever.

She decided to buy the book despite its exorbitant price, knowing that it could be useful and that it was silly to give up a one-of-a-kind relic like that. She was lost in her thoughts as she made her way back to the hotel, kicking her shoes off in the closet as soon as she entered, wriggling her toes against the soft carpet. There was no reason to stay in New York now that she had the book, and it would be better to be on the move until she got the ingredients she wanted.

Still, a little rest would be nice. She let herself flop down on the bed. Her eyelids were heavy, and she curled up to sleep.

Maybe everything would be better in the morning.

 **London, 2052**

"Let's go in here," Caroline said, already opening the door to the tiny antique shop with her hip. Klaus followed her inside and she shot a smile at him over her shoulder when she felt his eyes on her.

They'd been in the U.K. for a few weeks now. She loved window shopping, and Klaus was always willing to indulge her, amusing himself while she spent hours in one single spot by telling her stories. He seemed to have one or five about every city they visited, whether he'd been there or not.

There was a small area in London that was well-known among those in the supernatural community as a good place for purchasing favors or rare artifacts from open-minded witches. This shop lived up to the hype, the seemingly-random items carefully arranged on large display shelves, a golden rope dangling by each one with a small card that said 'Pull for Assistance'. Caroline carefully inspected every item they came across before a pretty necklace on a velvet pillow caught her eye, the purple stone glittering in the light, a symbol carved into it.

"I saw a necklace just like that in the 14th century," Klaus said from behind her.

"Was it worn by a princess almost as beautiful as me?" Caroline teased, reaching to touch the gem, and Klaus grabbed her wrist, his other arm sliding around her waist as he pulled her back against him.

"Don't touch it," he said, his voice hard.

"What? Why?"

"It was worn by a witch, actually," he said quietly. "It's quite a dangerous artifact."

"What does it do?" she asked, wriggling in his arms until he got the message and loosened his grip so that she could face him.

"It provides a near irresistible temptation," he said cryptically, and she huffed.

"That's specific," she said sarcastically, though there was no bite to her tone.

"If it's near irresistible, wouldn't you rather not know, sweetheart?"

"I'm curious now."

He sighed. "It grants wishes."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"Haven't you ever heard anyone tell you to be careful what you wish for, love?"

"Yeah, of course. I've seen Disney movies," she said with a grin. "It's pretty, though."

"It is," he said.

"Tell me more about the witch?" she asked, and he gave her a dimpled smile.

"If you like," he said, and she smiled as he pressed his palm to the small of her back, leading her further back into the displays, pointing out things he was familiar with. She soaked in the information, wondering what life would be like when she was as old as him, whether she'd someday look back on the first few decades of her life and think about how primitive things were. Sometimes she wished that she could have the same experience, that she'd lived through the times in history textbooks, that she could share that with him.

They were walking back to the front when she felt the absurd urge to linger by the shelf holding the necklace, the need to touch it taking ahold of her. Klaus was a few steps behind her, distracted, still talking about the book with a peeling cover a few rows back.

She reached out as if in a trance, gently stroking the gem with her fingertip.

"I wish that I knew what it was like to be an Original," she whispered.

She felt an odd tingling sensation in her fingertip and blinked, jerking her hand away, horrified at what she'd done. Nothing happened though. She didn't feel any different. Maybe it hadn't worked?

"Everything all right, sweetheart?" Klaus asked from behind her, and she turned to face him, pasting a smile on her face.

"Yeah. Everything's fine," she said.

He frowned and she winced, knowing she was a terrible liar.

"I just..."

"I know that it's tempting, but whatever you wanted to wish for most likely isn't worth it," he said quietly, sliding an arm around her waist. "Dinner?"

"Sure," she said, trying to put the experience out of her mind. "Sounds great."

Anxiety twisted in her stomach for the whole dinner, and though Klaus seemed to notice that there was something off, he managed to restrain himself from asking again until they'd gotten back to their house.

She had mostly managed to pretend nothing had happened, and she felt the tension radiating from him as she tugged out her earrings. "Everything okay?"

"I'm not sure," he said, reclining against the pillows. His ankles were crossed, arms behind his head as he watched her strip out of her clothes, pulling on a thin silk slip before she slid under the sheets, shifting to get comfortable.

"What's that supposed to mean? And can you get under the covers and lie down? I can't use you as a pillow if your sheets are cockblocking me."

"I'm not sure you're using the word in the correct context, sweetheart," he said, sliding under the blankets and lifting an arm so that she could snuggle against him.

She scoffed. "Please. Who's the one who's older than dirt here?"

Her voice shook at the end of her sentence as she realized what she was saying, and Klaus frowned. "Tell me what's troubling you, love," he said, his voice low and deceptively calm. A clear warning.

"I...Can we talk about it in the morning?"

He hesitated for a moment, as though he wanted to say something, before eventually nodding. "Alright, sweetheart."

"Thanks," she whispered, resting her cheek against his chest and closing her eyes as he stroked her hair. "I love you."

She felt him press a kiss to the top of her head, tugging her as close as possible. She savored the feeling of his palm rubbing her lower back gently, the silk of her slip comfortable against her skin, and drifted off.

 **New York City, 2052**

The first thing she realized when she woke was the distinct lack of Klaus's arms wrapped around her. The second was that the sheets underneath her did not smell the way they usually did. When she opened her eyes, she realized that she was in an unfamiliar bedroom. "Klaus?" she called. "You here?"

When there was no answer, she climbed out of bed, walking to the nearby window and pulling the curtains open, jerking her hands away and wincing when the cloth was ripped from the rod. She frowned, staring down at her hands. She was quite used to her level of strength now, hadn't had an accident like that in a very long time, and her mouth dropped open slightly when she realized that her daylight ring was...different.

Completely different. A delicate gold band with a brightly shining lapis lazuli gem in the center sat on her left ring finger, total contrast to the ugly rock she'd had before, and she felt her lips curl into a smile.

At least there was a bright side. Wherever she was, her daylight ring was _actually pretty_.

The view was incredible, the city below her bustling with activity, and her lips parted slightly when she saw the Empire State Building. She was in New York?

She looked around, frowning when she realized that she was in a hotel room, and she hesitantly moved towards the bathroom. She was getting more scared by the moment, realizing that her wish might have actually come true. What would that mean? She was clearly still a vampire, so was she an Original now? Was Klaus still an Original? Was she turned the same time as him?

She looked exactly the same in the mirror as she always had, though her hair was longer, the golden waves spinning into curling ends by her waist. She had to push away the panic starting to grip her insides, and she rushed back to the main room, deciding to look for any clue that could point her in the right direction of what was going on.

For some reason, the 'could have time traveled' theory seemed logical, and there was a phone resting on the side table, so she pulled it over quickly, pressing the button to see the date. She couldn't help but feel an odd combination of disappointment and relief that it was still March 12th, 2052. Time hadn't changed. She frowned as she hesitantly pressed her thumb to the fingerprint reader.

It unlocked and she wrinkled her nose at the background. Who used hipstery black and white landscape photographs as their wallpaper? Her Original self, apparently.

She opened the photo app, expecting to see selfies or pictures of her and Klaus or her friends, but there wasn't a single one. Her contacts list was next, and she'd never seen a longer list in her life. There were what seemed to be hundreds of names, and she clicked on a few to see copious notes on who each person was and how she knew them. Every Mikaelson but Klaus was in her contacts.  
Was Klaus alive? Why wouldn't she have him in her phone when she had his siblings? What did that mean?

She frowned, trying to figure out whether calling one of his siblings was a good idea. They might be able to help her get back to her reality, even if Klaus wasn't there. It seemed like the best plan she had. But which to call?

She bit her lip, weighing her options. In her life before the wish, she wasn't on good terms with Kol _at all_ , and Elijah was a bit too willing to scold for her tastes, but she and Rebekah were friends. Ish.

She didn't know if things were different in this reality, but she hit Rebekah's name, holding the phone to her ear with a shaking hand. Rebekah answered on the first ring, her voice low.

"Caroline, what the bloody hell are you thinking? You can't call me."

"What? Why?"

"What do you mean why? You haven't hidden for this long for him to figure out where you are through me," Rebekah hissed.

Who would she be hiding from?

"I need help," she said. "I had a spell cast on me and..."

"What sort of spell?" Rebekah asked immediately. "I obviously don't know much, but Kol...You could take a chance if it's bad enough that you're calling me."

"I just...I think I need to talk to Klaus," Caroline said hesitantly.

"Klaus?" Rebekah repeated slowly.

"Yeah."

"Since when has Nik been Klaus to you, exactly? And what's wrong with your voice? Have you decided to take on one of those awful American accents?"

Caroline was now brimming with questions, but realized that Rebekah would be suspicious about her motives, especially since alarm bells were clearly already going off. Instead, she avoided the question completely.

"I need his help, Rebekah," Caroline said quietly. "Where is he?"

At least five full seconds of silence passed before she heard Rebekah clear her throat. "He's at the villa in Madrid right now, but Caroline...I wouldn't if I were you."

Caroline let that sink in for a second, trying to figure out why visiting Klaus wouldn't be a good idea. She hesitated before speaking again. "You don't think he'd help me?"

"Of course he'd help you," Rebekah said quickly. "But I'm not sure it'll be worth it to go to him."

"If he can help me, then I have to," Caroline said. "Thanks for the help, Bekah."

She hung up before Rebekah could say anything, looking around for suitcases and finding none before going to the closet and opening it, hoping to find clothes. She was not disappointed.

"Holy shit," she breathed, staring at the rack of clothes, trying to figure out if there would be anything appropriate for a plane.

Did this Caroline own any shoes that had heels lower than five inches? Who was she, Katherine? She managed to track down her laptop, but it was password-protected, and she scowled as she went through the five extra steps to get plane tickets on her phone.

She showered, pulled on the dress that was _much_ too fancy for catching a seven hour flight at one o'clock in the afternoon, and set off for the airport, already perfecting the first draft of her speech to Klaus in her head before they lifted off.

She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say or how different things would be in this timeline, but she hoped that he could help protect her from whoever was after her and explain what was going on. Her stomach was in knots by the time she walked up the path to the familiar villa that she and Klaus had stayed in on their second, fourth, and seventh tours through Europe.

The door flew open just as she arrived, Klaus standing in the threshold with a dark look on his face as he glared at her with heated eyes and slowly moved aside. "Caroline. Come in."

She moved past him, eyeing the furniture with distaste, the dark leathers and burgundy accents a look she'd never have let happen if she'd had a say. She took a deep breath, turning to face him and meeting his eyes. "I need your help," she whispered.

He stalked towards her, invading her personal space, his palm cupping her cheek to hold her still as he bent so that they were nose-to-nose, his other hand landing possessively on her hip as he crushed her against his chest. "That is interesting, my love. I do recall that the last time I saw you I promised to rip your heart from your body if I should ever lay eyes on you again."

She took a sharp breath, her eyes going wide.

 _Shit_.

"I'm...Klaus, I-"

"Klaus?" he asked softly, his eyebrow raised, his breath hot on her lips as he spoke. "You seek my aid even as you call me the name that falls from the lips of my enemies? You wound me, Caroline."

Caroline was panicking now, this Klaus behaving so differently from the one she loved, and her breath hitched as she realized that she could actually be in danger. "I'm not from here."

"I'm afraid I'm not following."

"I'm from another universe," she said. "I don't know what the Caroline you know did to you to make you so mad, but in my universe it was different, and I need to get back to _my_ Klaus."

"Oh, we're playing that game are we?" he whispered, his hand gripping her hip more firmly as he nosed her temple, inhaling her scent. "I understand that you're a touch distressed by my treatment of you, but I'm unsure that it's fair to say that I'm no longer the man you fell in love with a thousand years ago. Incapacitating you for a mere decade hardly compares to the half-century I've suffered without you, the betrayal I felt when I woke to find that you'd _left_ me. Perhaps I put a dagger in your heart, but you returned it with one in my back."

Her breath caught as he pinched her waist, and she felt his stubble brush against her cheek as he smiled. His tongue darted along the underside of her jaw, making her moan in spite of herself, and she felt a shiver run down her spine as he dragged a fang down her neck. Her body stiffened as he ran his tongue along the cut before pulling back, licking his lips as he stared at her with heavily lidded eyes. "I've missed your taste."

"This isn't a game," she gasped out. "I'm seriously from a parallel universe."

She suddenly realized that he'd somehow backed them up and had her pressed against the wall. Before she could push him away, he pinned her wrists to either side of her head, holding her in place with his hips. He pulled back to stare at her, his breathing heavy, eyes dark, and he leaned to press his forehead against hers.

"All right. I'll take the bait then, sweetheart. Let's say for a moment that you're telling the truth and you're from a separate universe. Why are you here, and where is my wife?"

"Your _what now_?"

* * *

Please let me know what you think! Is it followable? Do we like the stories so far? Please let me know in a review! :D


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you so much for the response to the last chapter! I'm so glad you guys like this so much. Thank you to Kaitlyn for being born and to garglyswoof for betaing. I didn't do a last draft check-through with her, so any errors are probably things I added at the last second. ;)

Just as a quick note, unlike in canon where Klaus and Caroline's shared flaw is insecurity, Klaus and Original!Caroline both lived for a thousand years with someone who gives them unconditional love. Their relationship here will be a bit more dark and twisted as a result. So, just a warning.

Also, here is the promised viking wooing.

* * *

 **Mystic Falls, 1043**

Klaus leaned against the stone wall of the cave, his sketchbook balanced on a knee. He was tracing the line of Caroline's cheek, trying to be subtle as he glanced up at her for reference. Her face was shadowed in the firelight, her smile bright as she spoke to his sister, and he carefully outlined the curve of her eyebrow. He glanced back up and realized that she was looking at him. He held her gaze, tilting his head to the side as he drank in her wide-eyed stare, and she blushed, quickly turning away.

He grinned, turning back to the pages and spinning the charcoal between his fingers. Caroline was Rebekah's age, and he'd minded them every now and then when they were small children. Caroline had made a point of ignoring his general existence since declaring him a dirty cheater at pick-up sticks when she was six. Her accusation was completely true, of course, and in the ten years since, she hadn't changed her opinion.

Or, at least, she hadn't admitted it.

He knew that she was warming up to him. He wasn't oblivious to the curious glances and flushed cheeks that indicated she found him attractive, but Caroline was the rare sort who would value silly qualities like compassion and loyalty over who was handsome or best with a sword. Luckily, he was capable of at least putting on a good show of it.

After an hour or so of sketching and avoiding Finn's attempts to engage him in conversation, he casually went to sit down next to Caroline and Rebekah. "How are you faring?"

"Well enough," Caroline said coldly, chancing a glance at him through thick lashes before going back to inspecting the stack of pick-up sticks, the gears clearly turning in her head. He watched as her brows furrowed, her hand slowly reaching out, fingers perfectly steady.

Her hand withdrew abruptly, and she whirled around to glare at him. "Must you stare? You're making it difficult to concentrate."

"Does that mean you're nervous when I'm looking at you, love?"

She shot him a withering look before turning back to the game, her teeth worrying her plump lower lip as she reached to slide one of the sticks off the pile. When the pile didn't fall, she grinned, adding the stick to her small stack, and Rebekah shifted to reach for one.

Klaus let out an obviously fake sneeze, and Rebekah squealed, withdrawing her hand and jostling the pile.

"Nik!" she shrieked. "That was disgusting!"

"Sorry, love. Can't be helped."

"Niklaus! I could have won without your half-arsed help," Caroline hissed.

"Caroline! Language," her mother called from the other side of the cave, and Caroline gritted her teeth.

"Apologies, mother."

Klaus fought down a grin, and Caroline glared at him again before tucking a blonde curl behind her ear and looking back at the game. "You can go again, Bekah. Niklaus's attempts to earn my favor in this instance have failed spectacularly," she said dryly.

"Have they ever succeeded?"

Caroline flushed. "No," she muttered as Rebekah slid another stick off the pile.

"I get the impression that you're lying to me, sweetheart."

She huffed before lowering her voice. "Well, you can take your _impressions_ and shove them up your-"

" _Caroline!_ "

"I sometimes think the gods blessed my mother with better hearing than the average human," Caroline muttered.

Klaus was unable to suppress a smile, and she determinedly didn't meet his eyes.

"Though your mother may not appreciate it, I find your blunt honesty rather charming."

Rebekah looked away from the conversation, clearly suppressing a laugh as Caroline turned ever-so-slowly to pin him with unimpressed eyes.

"May I ask that you take what is clearly about to turn into a spat somewhere else? I have no wish to listen."

"Yes, Bekah," Caroline said immediately, and Klaus stood, offering Caroline his arm.

She didn't take it, simply sweeping from the small cave area to the underground passage that connected it with the others, taking a deep breath before she spoke.

"While I understand that my prospects are few due to my unladylike conduct, I must confess that you would not be one of them no matter your level of interest."

"And why's that, love?" he asked, bristling. He was used to her shutting him down, but she'd never done so in such a firm way, and for the first time it occurred to him that she might not actually _wish_ to be wooed. Had he been investing his time and energy into a woman that would never love him?

"You put on a good act of being a kind man around me, but I hear the stories, Niklaus. I know what activities you partake in among the trees at night. You claim to want me, and yet you tempt those of lesser status with pretty promises before leaving them in tears. Is that what I should expect if I succumb? A flash of dimples and glinting teeth before you leave me ruined and ashamed?"

"Do be careful, Caroline. You wouldn't want to insult me."

She gave a sharp laugh that was anything but kind. "And here I thought you found my 'blunt honesty' charming..."

He didn't have anything to say to that, and she gave him a knowing look. "I know you find me appealing in looks, Niklaus, but I simply do not think you would like the woman who comes with them."

He swallowed. "You are so much more than a pretty face, Caroline."

"So you say," she whispered.

He could see how vulnerable she felt from the way she held herself, her arms crossed protectively over her chest as she refused to meet his eyes, and he sighed. "I will convince you of my intentions."

"I would love to see you make the attempt," Caroline said dryly, and he restrained himself from making a biting remark.

Though he hadn't meant to leave any room for argument, Caroline always seemed to find a way to slot her contempt into places it did not belong, and he knew he had to keep his temper if he had any hope of convincing her. If that failed, he knew that her father would accept his offer for her hand regardless. Though his mother had confessed that he was a bastard son, it was a shame the rest of the village would never know, and Mikael was one of the most important men in the village.

Caroline could not hope for a better match, unless Elijah or Finn were to offer, but both were too wrapped up in their own interests.

Their loss, really.

Still, he'd prefer that she agreed, knowing that taking away her choice was a transgression Caroline would likely never forgive. The question was how to convince her.

"I will convince you," he repeated. "Now, may I walk you back to the rest of the village?"

"You may accompany me, yes," she said, the rejection falling heavy between them.

He didn't press. She'd come to him eventually.

XXX

"Come to the forest with me, Niklaus," Tatia said, her smile bright as she threaded her fingers through his. "I have missed you."

"I cannot, I'm afraid."

"Why?" she asked, her pretty face pulled into a frown.

"I have decided to limit my attentions to the woman I plan to court."

A brief look of surprise passed across her face before she pressed her lips together, clearly offended. "Are you not courting me?"

"Not at all."

"Why not?" she asked, apparently genuinely confused as to why he wouldn't want her.

"I want Caroline."

"The horse-tender's daughter?"

"Yes. Though I feel that I must tell you: even if I was not interested in Caroline, you're all but promised to my brother, and I am not a man who betrays family."

Tatia narrowed her eyes for a moment before her lower lip extended in a pout. "Fine. If you want to chase the one woman in the village who won't have you, I suppose that is your right."

"It is," he said, watching impassively as Tatia stalked off before returning to his work.

The mid-afternoon sun was uncomfortably hot on his back, his tunic sticky with sweat and clinging to him like a second skin. After a lengthy debate with himself, he decided that he was at the very back of the property where no one would see him anyway, and he might as well shed his tunic. The relief was instant. He knew he'd be burned the next day, but it would be worth not having to deal with sweat-soaked fabric. He was lost in his thoughts for awhile before he heard the pounding of feet as someone approached.

"Niklaus," Caroline hissed, storming up to him, her cheeks flushing when he turned around, her lips parting slightly as she stared at his chest with darkening eyes.

He fought down a smirk at her reaction, knowing that he was already on thin ice from the look on her face. "Easy, love. What-"

"Tatia seems to believe that we are to be married. Explain," she said tersely, still shaking with what was probably a combination of rage and embarrassment, her cheeks a delightful shade of red. He tried not to react and treat her as he normally would, knowing that calling attention to her embarrassment would not endear him to her.

"While I admit that I do hope for that to be the case in the future, I would assume that she simply inferred too much from my rejection. You expressed disgust in regards to my...indiscretions. I listened."

He saw her eyes wander to his forearms, her tongue running over her lower lip before she seemed to snap back to herself.

"Oh. You _listened_ ," she said with another of her withering looks, and his hands curled into fists as he tried to calm himself, slowly relaxing his body.

"Indeed, I did. I told you that I would convince you of my intentions. My intention is to be yours, and only yours, just as you would be mine."

She stared at him for a few seconds before giving him a sharp nod. "Fine, then."

"I will continue to do what I can to earn your affections," Klaus continued, ignoring Caroline's suspicious glance.

"May I ask how?"

"You think that I only value your beauty and not your heart or mind, and I would like the chance to prove you wrong."

She held his gaze, her head tilting slightly to the side. "Again, how?"

"Get to know me," he said quietly, taking a step towards her, and her eyes widened slightly, her breath catching.

"I..."

"Take a chance," he whispered, cupping her cheek in his palm. "I am not a good man, Caroline, but I promise that I will be good to you."

She closed her eyes, leaning into his touch before she seemed to catch herself, her eyes flying open. "Niklaus-"

"Please," he whispered, and she gave him a searching look, her big blue eyes drawing him in.

"Fine. One chance," she allowed, and he gave her a dimpled smile.

"I am pleased to hear that. Perhaps you should wander back to the village now, however. You wouldn't want anyone to catch you alone with a half-naked man, future husband or no."

She wrinkled her nose. "You bounced back to arrogant rather quickly for a man so earnest."

"Confident, not arrogant," he said, brushing his palm down her arm and smirking when he saw goosebumps spread across her skin.

"We shall see," she whispered.

He succeeded, and when he saw her on the day of their wedding, her hair beautifully plaited, her lips stained with berry juice to make them sweetly bright, he knew that the image would be perfectly imprinted in his memory as long as he lived.

He wasn't wrong.

 **London, 2052**

Klaus woke up to a blinding pain between his legs, and he swore, sitting straight up to see Caroline frantically pulling on clothes. "Where are we? Where did you take me?" she snarled, and he nearly groaned at her faint accent.

His Caroline had obviously made a wish on that damned necklace, though he had no idea what it was, and it was already abundantly clear that this new Caroline was not at all pleased to see him.

"We're in London, and I believe that you're in an alternate universe," he said lightly, the pain ebbing away quickly.

"Very funny, Niklaus. Did you dagger me while I was asleep?"

"Dagger you?" he asked, pushing himself out of bed. Was she an Original in the other universe?

She scrambled back a few steps as he approached, and though her jaw was set in a charade of stubbornness, he could see the genuine fear in her eyes. "I believe that I deserve to know before you hold my heart in your hands, as you so kindly promised me."

He sighed, walking to Caroline and grabbing her wrists, ignoring her shrieks as she attempted to tug her hands away as he led her back to the bed. She dug her heels into the carpet, but he simply slipped his arm around her waist, lifting her.

"What did you do to me, Niklaus? Did you cast a spell? Weaken me?"

"No, Caroline," he said patiently, dropping her on the bed and holding her still with one hand as he plucked his phone off its charger one-handed and unlocked it. "As I said, you are in an alternate universe. In this one, you're a baby vampire who was born in 1992. I'd assume in your universe you're quite a bit older."

"I am an Original," she hissed before suddenly deflating. "Or I was. How do you know what's going on?"

"Well, my Caroline found a necklace that grants wishes, and I'd assume that she wished for something that sent her spirit to your universe, therefore sending you here," he said, bending down so that they were nose-to-nose, ignoring her sharp inhale. "Now, you're going to tell me everything about your world. The first thing she's going to do if she's in trouble is to try to find me, and considering that you just did your best to injure me before you ran, I'm going to assume that in this other universe, we're not on good terms."

"You could say that," she said, her eyes narrowed.

"Right. Tell me why that is. Now."

She swallowed. "Let go of me," she whispered, and Klaus chuckled.

"I'll do no such thing until I have answers. Talk. Now."

 **Venice, 1992**

Caroline burst into Rebekah's room, ignoring her shriek of indignation. "You have to leave," she said firmly, roughly shoving Rebekah's clothes and belongings into a suitcase. "Now."

"What? Why?"

"Niklaus...He's angry."

"Nik is always angry," Rebekah said, supremely unconcerned in a way that made alarm bells go off in Caroline's head.

"He's _dagger-level_ angry, Bekah."

Rebekah stilled for a moment before she whirled around to face Caroline, her teeth bared. "What have I done, exactly?"

"Every man within a ten-mile radius," Caroline said, knowing her tone was nasty, but not particularly caring.

Rebekah still clung too intently to her human dreams, hoping for an epic love story, and it was tiresome to watch the endless train wrecks. Rebekah wasn't close to a saint herself after all, and her constant judgmental comments about Klaus and Caroline's admittedly tumultuous relationship had never ceased to grate on Caroline's patience. Though she and Rebekah had been friends long ago, their relationship had been soured by Klaus's slow descent into paranoid insanity. She blamed Caroline for enabling him, believing that Caroline's willingness to sink with him rather than keeping him afloat had doomed them both to being beyond saving.

Caroline, for her part, didn't particularly want to be saved.

She occasionally wondered what would have happened if she hadn't been there. Would Rebekah have taken her place? Let Klaus spiral and gone down with him? Or would she have kept him tied to his humanity?

"Claws away, _sister_ ," Rebekah said pointedly.

"It should be enough that I'm warning you. He'll be back soon. You need to run."

Honestly, Rebekah should feel lucky that she was getting a warning at all, considering what she'd done. One of her little conquests was working for Mikael. Rebekah should have known better.

"How do you know? He's been gone for days."

"We talk every night on the telephone, as I'm sure you've realized."

"Bugger off," Rebekah muttered, now helping Caroline pack, despite her initial resistance.

"If you'd like, though I'd assume that you'd want to get as many belongings in your suitcases as possible, and you have about..." she checked the time on the clock in the corner. "...half an hour to make it to the airport."

They packed in silence after that, both of them having had a lot of experience prioritizing belongings from the years they'd spent on the run from Mikael, and Caroline watched as her sister-in-law drove away.

Ten minutes later, Klaus was looming over her as she attempted to keep a blank face. "Where is she?"

"She left," Caroline said, not meeting his eyes.

"You told her," he hissed, and she didn't deny it, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Perhaps I know that you love the chase."

"Now, Caroline... We both know that you dislike seeing her hurt. I do not either, of course, but I simply cannot allow her to get away with what she did."

"The boy did not have a chance to tell anyone anything. It is of no consequence, really."

He sighed, beginning to pace, and she didn't bother to keep an eye on him, picking her nails as she listened to the constant rhythm of his footsteps. "I suppose I can forgive you for your betrayal," he said a few minutes later, coming up and pressing his chest against her back. "Especially as I've missed you so..."

She tilted her head to the side, her eyes closing as he brushed her hair from her neck to press a lingering kiss to the hollow of her throat. "...but if Mikael does end up finding us, I must keep you safe."

She knew what was going to happen a split second before he drove the dagger into her heart, and she could hear his final words whispered in her ear as her skin greyed and her limbs went heavy: "What's a few more years without you when we have eternity?"

* * *

I hope you guys liked this! Any feedback? Thoughts? Favorite parts or bits of dialogue? Predictions?

Please let me know what you thought. It's the only way I know what I could be doing better or what I'm doing well!


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you so much for the amazing feedback! I'm so excited that you guys are responding so well to this.

Thank you to garglyswoof for making this readable. This chapter is most definitely rated M ;)

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 **Madrid, 2052**

"I made a wish," she whispered.

He raised an eyebrow, looming over her, and she couldn't help but shift uneasily against the wall he was holding her against, fighting the need to try to run. "A wish?"

"We were shopping at an antique shop and found a necklace that grants wishes," she said quickly, and he frowned. "It put me under some sort of trance, and I wished that I knew what it was like to be an Original."

"You weren't turned with me in the other universe?" he asked, and she knew that she at least had him interested.

"No. I was born in 1992."

"When were you turned?"

"I was seventeen."

"And I was still turned in the 11th century?"

"Yeah."

"So my other self's a cradle-robber. Interesting. What did the necklace look like?"

She decided to ignore the jab at her Klaus for now, deciding it might be better not to piss this one off. "I don't know. It had a purple gemstone with a weird symbol and was on a gold chain. It was pretty, but it wasn't like...super memorable."

"The Chain of Dream's Temptation," he said quietly, absentmindedly rubbing his thumb in light circles on her wrists over her pulse. His head tipped to the side as he watched her with a calculating gaze, and she swallowed.

"Yeah. You said something like that when you told me not to touch it."

His eyes flashed yellow and he pressed her wrists against the wall harder, making pain shoot down her forearms. "And you disobeyed? Decided you knew better even after my warning? You stupid girl. If you're here, the balance must be kept, which means that _my wife_ is stuck in whatever universe you're from. Your body was so young, practically a baby vampire. How will she stay safe?" he spat, ripping his hands from her wrists, picking up a vase and throwing it at the wall in one smooth movement, the shards crashing to the ground. Caroline flinched.

"Klaus is with her. He won't let anything happen to her."

"Well, as he couldn't even control a less than century-old vampire, forgive me if I lack the confidence in him that you seem to have."

"I thought you were trying to kill me...her anyway," Caroline said, feeling incredibly confused from the contradiction of the Klaus obsessed with her other self's safety now and the one bent on killing her five minutes ago. "Rip out her heart?"

"A metaphor, love. An Original cannot be killed by the removal of their heart," he hissed through gritted teeth. "I would never hurt her. A man who strikes his wife is unfit even to speak her name. She knows that. I simply want to remind her of who her heart belongs to."

Caroline privately felt that he had been pretty convincing in terms of the violence and that it was no wonder her other self left, but decided not to push the subject. "Okay, well as interesting as your love/hate relationship with my other self is, I need to go home."

"I agree," he growled. "The effect of the necklace is only reversed once you obtain closure on your wish. So it would be best if you could get on with it as quickly as possible. After all, when she returns, she'll be here with me, and I'm done waiting to have her again."

"My Klaus waited," she said without thinking. "I...Well, he wanted to be with me when I was seventeen, but he knew I was too young, so he told me he'd wait however long it took for me to choose him."

He bit out a growl as his eyes flashed yellow, his teeth grinding. "Oh, did he? My other self waited around pining for a little girl? His patheticness is inspiring. I cannot _fathom_ why I'd ever do anything differently."

Caroline had the urge to use her new strength to pitch this Klaus across the room, protectiveness surging through her veins. "Don't talk about him that way. _You're_ the pathetic one," she said quietly. "You purposefully make the woman you supposedly love scared of you? You think that's better than showing her you actually care? We're happy because he respects me. That's what matters."

His hands twitched as though he wanted to grab her again, his eyes burning gold now, but he seemed to decide it wasn't worth it, his voice growing cold and cruel instead.

"If you're so _happy,_ then why did you make the wish to come here?"

Caroline crossed her arms over her chest defensively. "He's older, had so many experiences that I'll never have with him. Like, you and the other me have probably done tons of stuff together just because you've had so long to live. We don't have that."

"Well, I'll be the first one to tell you that spending a considerable amount of time together is not necessarily the key to being _happy,_ " he said, bitterness coloring his tone.

"Yeah. I think I'm starting to see that," Caroline said dryly.

 **Warsaw, 2002**

He watched as Caroline took a sharp breath, coughing as she sat up, and he dropped the dagger, the blade clattering to the floor. "Niklaus," she whispered, her eyelids drooping, and he barked for the compelled human to come closer. "What...what happened?"

"Shh, my love," he whispered, sliding his arm beneath her knees and the other under her back to lift her, sitting on the cushioned chair he'd had brought in for her to wake on, and setting her in his lap, holding her to his chest.

He'd missed her. Her scent, her skin, her form pressed against his... It was a pity he'd had to put her down for so long, but it had been necessary so that she wouldn't run off and do something reckless.

She was clearly starving, her skin ash-grey, and he grabbed the human man's wrist and pressed it to Caroline's mouth, her thick lashes fluttering as she fed. He tightened his hold around her belly as the meal began to sway on his feet, and Klaus pulled her more firmly against him once the man's lifeless form fell to the floor. Caroline wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, her eyes dark.

"You daggered me," she said softly, her tone dangerous, the black veins that had been slowly receding now creeping back down her cheeks.

"I did," he agreed, bending to press a kiss to her cheek, his fingers sneaking under the hem of her top. "I had to, sweetheart."

"No you didn't," she hissed, trying to push him away, but he held fast.

"I had to be certain that Mikael hadn't found us. You would have done something reckless, and I couldn't have that."

She froze, and he felt the way she vibrated with fury in his arms, could hear the faint noise of her teeth grinding.

His wife always got like this when he daggered her. She'd throw a tantrum and pout and remain cold and distant when he tried to hold her, throwing filthy looks at him every chance she got. Still, she'd never leave. He'd done worse, and she'd stayed. They both knew her hands were just as blood-stained as his.

Five prominent, _useful_ covens had been systematically destroyed simply because she found them tiresome to work with. He'd been angry, screamed and thrashed, but she'd simply flipped her hair with an unapologetic shrug of her shoulders. She always knew he'd forgive her. It was a perverted push-and-pull they shared: lies, mass-murder, betrayal and unconditional forgiveness.

"I cannot believe you," she hissed.

"Don't be angry, sweetheart."

"Don't be angry? Seriously?"

"How can I acquit myself?"

"How long?" she asked, wriggling in his arms.

He loosened his grip, knowing that restraining her wouldn't exactly earn him points, but instead of pushing him away she simply readjusted so that she was straddling him, her arms draped across his shoulders.

"Not long. A decade," he muttered.

"Not long," she scoffed, rubbing the fabric of his shirt between her fingers. "I suppose in the grand scheme of time it's a short while, but I'm only willing to forgive if you promise never to dagger me again. We're adults, Niklaus. I know you're capable of sorting things out using your words."

" _You'll_ forgive _me,_ sweetheart?" he asked, his voice soft and silky.

He could see in her eyes that there was something off. That she wasn't being truly honest with him, but she avoided the question, and his mind went slightly blank as she rolled her hips against his, a low groan rumbling in his throat. "Have you been faithful to me, Niklaus?"

He raised an eyebrow in answer and she smiled, though he knew it wasn't genuine. "I suppose I shouldn't have to ask."

"Always, Caroline," he confirmed.

"Make-up sex," she ordered, tugging lightly at his hair. "Now."

"So demanding."

"You like it," she whispered, bending forward until her lips brushed against his as she spoke, the hard consonants rolling off of her tongue. "And you _want_ it. Me."

"I do," he said quietly, tangling his fingers in her hair and pulling her head back, her neck exposed. "I have missed you so, sweetheart."

It had been a long ten years.

Marriage had not been for love in the time when Caroline wormed her way into his heart. It had been an arrangement between two people for mutual benefit of the family. Monogamy was officially expected, but mistresses were the worst-kept secrets in the village, everyone turning a blind eye.

He'd never had the desire for one.

The idea of sex with anyone but Caroline was abhorrent to him. He and Caroline betrayed and lied, manipulated and fought, but they never strayed.

"Do you know how much I wished it was your hand wrapped around my cock every time I touched myself, Caroline? How much I craved to hear your voice? No recollection of the lovely little gasps and moans that escape your lips can compare to hearing the ones you make when I touch you just the way you like it."

She swallowed, shifting on his lap, her core brushing against his covered cock. A groan escaped his lips as her hands slipped under his shirt, nails scratching up his back before she dug them into the skin just under his shoulderblades. Even only ten years, practically a blink of an eye for his age, had left him close to desperate for her presence. He felt his cock harden underneath her as he ground against her covered core, and she rolled her hips to tease him.

"Caroline," he growled, tightening his grip on her hair, and she laughed.

"You like that?"

He didn't answer, tracing the smooth skin over the pulse of her jugular with his fingertip, savoring her twitch as a shiver ran down her spine, the scent of her arousal thick in the air. The familiar momentary prick of his fangs breaking through his gums came with a low growl before he bent forward to scrape them down her neck, steadying her with his hand on her shoulder as she moaned. The pleasurable pain of her nails in his skin disappeared as the heat of her palms traced his spine, and she gripped his collar to rip his shirt when he ran his tongue over the tiny beads of blood, groaning softly at the taste of her. He'd missed this, missed the feel of her breasts crushed against his chest, of the sweet taste of her life clinging to his lips.

"Niklaus, touch me," she breathed, her fingers wrapping around his wrist to move his hand from her shoulder to the hem of her sundress, his hand settling on her inner thigh.

He did like it when she told him what she wanted, though _asking_ was better, and begging even more effective.

Though the years passed and times changed, he still tended to assume that she'd defer to him out of habit, the expectations of gender roles that persisted for most of his thousand-plus years of life still a bit difficult to shake. Caroline, of course, had no such desire to stay tied to her place as the submissive partner. As time had gone on, she'd shed her long-instilled instinct to allow him that power, not that it had been all that strong in the first place, and he did enjoy it when she decided to take control.

Not that he made it easy for her.

"Ask," he whispered against the skin of her neck before he bit her for another taste, his other hand still holding her head back by her hair.

"I want you," she said matter-of-factly, her hands stopping the exploration of his chest to reach between them and unbuckle his belt, her hand brushing against the growing bulge in his jeans. She rubbed him slowly through the fabric, laughing quietly when his hips jerked, his breath catching, and he resisted the urge to sink his fangs deep in her throat in answer.

"Ask," he bit out, the effect of his words completely ruined by the low groan that followed them as he ground against her palm. He let go of her hair to catch her wrist, stilling the movement, and her lips curled in a wicked smile.

"I'm not the one who is desperate here, Niklaus. You _need_ me, don't you?" she whispered, leaning forward to capture his lips in a kiss, her tongue soon exploring his mouth as her fingernails traced the triangle inked into his upper back, her other wrist still held tightly in his hand.

He'd missed her taste, her weight on his body, the curve of her neck exposed to his mouth, and the scent of her arousal in the air nearly made his control snap. He moved his palm from her thigh to press it against her lower back, bringing her as close to him as possible, meeting her kisses with passionate strokes of his lips and tongue, his cock almost painfully hard.

She was growing short of breath, and he pulled back to look at her through heavily-lidded eyes, tracing the bite he'd left on her neck with his fingertip. Her eyes closed as he did it, a soft moan escaping her. She'd always loved a bit of pain with her pleasure, the motion against the bite making the poison burn underneath her skin. He always had to remind hinself that she wanted it to fester for a while, to resist the urge to press his wrist to her lips and force her to heal. He didn't like watching her hurt, his wolf's desire to protect her and alleviate her pain almost overwhelming.

But the way she quivered under his touch when he brushed the wound with his fingertips was worth it. He loved the way her lips parted slightly as she rubbed against him for friction, the hazy glaze on her blue eyes as she approached her high.

"I can feel how hard you are for me," she whispered, her voice slightly hoarse. "I know you want to feel my pussy clench around you, to hear me moan your name. You've quite honestly impressed me with your restraint."

"I can last as long as it takes to make you beg."

Caroline threw her head back as she laughed, a sound he's craved to hear for years. "Oh, my love. We both know that's a lie."

He pressed his lips together tightly, his jaw clenching. She was right. At his core, he _needed_ her, and he'd never been able to outlast her in contests of restraint. Control.

"Now, Niklaus... It's your turn to ask."

"I want you," he bit out.

"That's not asking very nicely," she said, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "Say 'please'."

He rolled his eyes so hard it hurt.

"Please," he said dryly.

She pouted. "It's no fun if you don't fight."

He didn't answer, unbuttoning his jeans and pulling out his cock, stroking himself a few times before reaching under the skirt of Caroline's dress to rip away the thin lace barrier, letting she scraps fall to the floor before sheathing himself inside her.

She was tight and hot and wet and _perfect_ , her arms tightening around him as they found a familiar rhythm, and he reached between them to rub her clit, knowing he wouldn't last long after a decade of waiting.

"Bite me," he ordered, tipping his neck to the side, not liking the pale tinge creeping up her skin.

She moaned as the cure landed on her tongue, her hips rolling as she met his thrusts, and it wasn't long before he felt her clench around him as she moaned his name. He felt his balls tighten, his body tensing as he tried to hold back.

"Come for me, my love," she whispered through shaking breaths, her eyes dark with lust.

He groaned, burying his face in her neck as he came, and she pressed light kisses to his cheek and temple, moving down to his jaw and nudging his chin with her nose to make him look at her. She cupped his cheeks, pressing her forehead against his. "I love you, Niklaus."

"And I you, my love."

"I know you've missed me," she whispered, pressing a soft kiss to his lips before pulling back to look at him with wide blue eyes. "But what's a few more years when we have eternity?"

Caroline was looking at him, a mocking smile spread across her pretty face, and before he could move, he felt a blinding pain in his neck and his world went black.

 **London, 2052**

"So _you_ made the wish, then?"

"It was unintentional," Caroline said stiffly. "I was in a shop to buy a spellbook, muttering to myself that I wished I'd never been an Original, and the necklace touched my skin. I know what the chain does, Niklaus. No need to explain."

"Why was that your wish?"

"Were you happy?" she asked, ignoring his question.

"Happy?"

"With your Caroline. Were you happy?"

"We _are_ happy," he said stiffly.

"As is clearly demonstrated by her making a wish to leave you," Caroline muttered, and Klaus bared his teeth, slamming her against the wall, his hand curled around her throat.

"Do not speak of things you do not understand," he hissed.

He knew his eyes were flashing yellow, and she let her eyes darken as well, her vampire features becoming more prominent. "Take your hand off of me, Niklaus."

He dropped her, and she landed smoothly on her feet, clasping her hands behind her back.

"I'd like to understand," she said quietly. "Why you were... _are_ happy."

"It's complicated," he allowed, not wanting to get into the details with this Caroline, a woman so unlike his own. There were traces, of course. Her smile, her laugh...the way she looked at him when she considered his actions inappropriate, a stare that made him feel both vulnerable and transparent.

Now, though, she bore no resemblance, her demeanor cold and distant as she impassively looked at the painting on the wall. "Were you always together, then? Was it love at first sight?" she asked, and he honestly couldn't tell whether she was joking or not, her face too blank.

"No. It took quite a while for her to come to her senses. I killed her best friend. Twice, actually. I taunted her for things out of her control. Nearly murdered her high school sweetheart. Stabbed her with a lamp. Bit her."

"You stabbed her? _Bit_ her?" Caroline asked, her eyes wide with horror. "With werewolf venom?"

"From what you told me, you cannot pretend your husband has not done worse."

"Not to me. Niklaus would never-"

"Daggering you through the heart is _stabbing_ , is it not?" he asked dryly.

"It's different," Caroline said, though she didn't meet his eyes. "That is not with the goal of hurting me. He does bite me when we're intimate, of course, but he is always careful to give me his blood once I'm sated. He does not like to see me in pain."

It was difficult not to roll his eyes, a bad habit he'd picked up from Caroline, but he managed.

"And yet you were afraid when you saw me. He threatened to rip out your heart, did he not?"

She pressed her lips together, her fists curling, and he could smell the blood blooming from the cuts her nails were making in her palm. "He would not hurt me. My husband has a flair for the dramatic. It was simply a metaphor, or a warning, really. Sick and twisted as our marriage may be, I do not pretend otherwise," she said, her voice cutting. "Niklaus and I stand by each other through every obstacle."

"Which is why you ran."

"He knows I will return," she said, her voice no louder than a whisper. "He sends his bodyguards after me for protection. My husband believes himself to be subtle, but he could never hide anything from me. Our hands are equally stained with blood, and if the situation were reversed, I would most likely do the same, if not worse to him for running. He worries for my safety, and watching him torture himself with whether I'm alive while he's away would be more satisfying than anything. In the meantime, I would wait and I would plan. In fact, I would not be surprised if my revenge was more skillfully crafted. I find it amusing to toy with him."

Klaus blinked, trying to recover from the whiplash of Caroline's simultaneous loyalty and sadism. From her clear insanity.

"How did you manage to return to her good graces?" she asked, changing the subject. "Your Caroline's?"

He pressed his lips together, not wanting to share the story of how they'd come together. It was personal, a secret hardly anyone was privy to, and there was something sacred about an experience shared only between him and Caroline.

"I cannot go back until I have 'closure', Niklaus. If you want her back, you'll tell me," Caroline said, and he _hated_ the knowing glance she shot him, the way she seemed so at ease in the face of his anger.

"Fine."

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Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you thought. Favorite line? Favorite scene?

Excited to see how the TVD version of Klaroline got together? ;)

Can't wait to hear your thoughts!


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you so much for the response to the last chapter! I'm so happy you guys are still into this! The beginning of this chapter is a bit more fluffy than the rest of the story, but I tried to make it fit the tone of the rest of the fic. Thank you to Kelly for beta work and Shauna for the beautiful cover.

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 **Los Angeles, 2017**

He caught her scent before the first click of her shoe sounded on the foyer's wooden floor. It was covered by unfamiliar shampoo and the spice of new perfume, but was distinctly _Caroline_ all the same. He listened as she took a few tentative steps, could imagine the hesitance in how she held herself, the way her teeth sunk into her lower lip as she scanned the empty hall, and he walked to the foyer to meet her.

There was a spark of apprehension in her eyes that almost looked like _dread_ , and he took a step closer, frowning when she leaned back on her feet. She swallowed. "You're here."

"I am," he agreed, clasping his hands behind his back and observing her, trying to figure out what was making her so on edge.

"You're a hard person to find," she said with a weak smile, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"You were looking, then?"

She nodded.

"Why?"

"I need to talk to you," she said, readjusting her purse on her shoulder and shifting from foot to foot. He'd never seen her look so uncomfortable, and he felt a sense of foreboding fill him, his lips pressing into a thin line.

"What about, Caroline?"

"Um...nothing."

"Nothing?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, and she huffed, giving him a glimpse of the Caroline he remembered.

"Can I sit down?" she asked, her fingers fiddling with the clasp of her purse.

"Of course. Where are my manners? Would you like refreshments? I have a butler I could call if you'd like a little snack."

"You're gross," she muttered, walking to the room he motioned towards and sitting primly on the loveseat, staring out the window.

"I'll take that as a no, then?"

She crossed and recrossed her legs, her knuckles white from the pressure she was putting on the latch of her purse, and he watched as she twitched, clearly _itching_ to reach out and touch him. "Why are you here, Caroline?"

She met his eyes briefly before looking away, swallowing again, her fingers flexing. "I...I need your help."

"What sort of help?"

She sunk her teeth so far in her lower lip that she drew blood, the thick, sweet scent filling the air. What was she so afraid of? Was she on the run from something? Someone? It would make sense considering how jittery she looked. But no, that _wouldn't_ make sense. He was the most powerful being in the world. She knew that she was safe with him. Perhaps she was there on the order of her friends to play the distraction again, to lead him away as they conspired against him. To betray him.

"I can't help if you don't tell me what the problem is, sweetheart," he said slowly, deciding to get a better sense of what was happening before jumping to conclusions.

His connection with Caroline was tenuous at best, and he had no desire to lose the little ground he'd gained by making assumptions.

"You can't help," she said shortly, her voice somehow walking the line between strained and hollow.

"Then why are you here?"

She twitched again, her limbs jerking suddenly before she curled into herself, her arms wrapped protectively around her torso. Klaus was up before he realized it, speeding towards her, unsure whether it was to comfort or restrain, but she scrambled away from him, tears blooming in her eyes. "Don't touch me."

He hated feeling unsure of anything, and though Caroline was the only person who could consistently make him feel off-kilter, he'd never been so confused about her reaction to something. He was instantly suspicious, torn between the possibility of her actually coming to him for some sort of help versus the distinct chance that she was feeling anticipatory guilt for the betrayal she could be about to commit. It was difficult to look at the situation objectively, the deeply rooted paranoia doing nothing to soothe his need to alleviate her clear distress. She still had her arms wrapped around herself, if anything more tightly than before, and her fingers were still clutching her...

"What's in the bag, love?"

She took a sharp breath, her eyes widening, and she shook her head. "I...it's..."

"Give it to me."

She gritted her teeth, dropping the bag to the floor and backing up, every movement clearly taking an immense amount of effort, and he scooped up the purse, flipping it open to see a very familiar-looking stake. "This is the White Oak Stake," he said unnecessarily, looking at her, anger and betrayal filling every inch of him as he fought not to destroy anything within reach, to lash out at her for going along with some half-cooked plan to derail his non-existent plans to hurt the doppelganger. It was better to fake calm, he knew. If she was truly out to hurt him, it was better for her to think he would let it slide just for her, as he always had. "May I ask why you have this? Is it your friends? Have they sent you to distract me and kill me? I admit that I'm surprised you agreed-"

"No," she said, her voice hitching as she shook, and the tone of it made him pause as he tried to figure out what she was fighting, what impulse she was controlling. "No. I don't want to, Klaus. I promise. I just...I have to..."

"Why? Why do you have to?" he snapped, hissing as he clutched the stake too harshly and a splinter bit into his hand.

"I can't tell you," she said, clearly as frustrated as him by the situation, her body shaking.

Her body lurched as though she was going to speed towards him, but instead she dropped to the floor. It was as though she was fighting against a force that was pulling her towards him, wrenching her hand back through thin air like she'd touched a hot oven. If she hadn't been a vampire, he almost would think...

"You're compelled," he said quietly.

She nodded, and he dropped the stake to speed behind her, putting an arm around her waist to crush her back against his chest and closing his other hand around her wrist to keep her in place. "I'm sorry," she breathed as she struggled in his arms. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," he said absently, trying to put the pieces together. He couldn't undo whatever compulsion she was under if it was one of his siblings, and he had a sneaking suspicion as to which one. If he was correct, he could certainly understood the reasoning behind his brother's actions, though it did nothing to calm the fury building in his gut. Still, best to double check. "Which of my siblings did this to you?"

"Kol."

He was right, then. "And you're compelled to kill me?"

It would make sense. Kol had a flair for 'poetic justice', and Caroline would be forced to try to kill Klaus until either she succeeded or he killed her to make her stop, and forcing him to murder the only woman he'd loved in centuries was what he'd consider a fitting punishment.

His siblings did get ever so _testy_ about being daggered, though Kol had never acted out quite to this degree.

She nodded, struggling even more in his arms, most likely to get to the stake on the floor. "Do you trust me, Caroline?" he asked, and she hissed out a yes, her voice catching around the word.

He snapped her neck.

The feeling of her body going limp in his arms was an unwelcome one, uncomfortably reminiscent of the moment after he'd stabbed her in the doppelganger's living room, but he set her on the couch before throwing the stake in the fireplace, lighting it and watching it burn to cinders. He'd have to investigate the White Oak's rebirth later, but for now he had to take care of Caroline. He contemplated the best way to end the compulsion as he secured ropes around her wrists and ankles just in case she woke. Kol was most likely halfway across the world right now, too smart to leave any breadcrumbs, and Klaus had no desire to keep her desiccated or locked up until he could find his brother and somehow force him to reverse it.

No, this would take a bit more creative thinking.

Perhaps a witch? There were ways to resist a compulsion, though he wasn't sure he'd ever heard of a spell to break one already in place, but that wasn't surprising. Witches couldn't be compelled and tended to shy away from casting spells on humans, too scared of being found out.

Perhaps the wording of the compulsion would help. That sort of magic was open to the interpretation of the compelled, and over the years Klaus had learned to keep his instructions specific and free of loopholes. It was entirely possible that Kol hadn't bothered, as his brother had never been all that detail-oriented, and there was quite a difference between "Stab Klaus with a White Oak Stake" and "Kill Klaus".

The former would require him to somehow track down a way to break the compulsion, but the latter... all that would require was a little trust.

Trust he wasn't quite sure he was willing to hand over.

He'd confessed to her years before that he loved her, and that was certainly true, but that didn't change his doubt of her feelings for him. Could he give her that sort of power when she'd abused it so many times in the past? Yes, because with the white oak stake gone, it wouldn't be the end of the world if she ripped out his heart or tried to keep him incapacitated. His heart would re-grow and he'd still be stronger than her when he woke up, even if it happened more than once. He could easily incapacitate her if it went wrong.

Then again, what if she had some sort of spell up her sleeve? What if Kol had known that he'd likely find the stake before she could use it and it was some sort of diversion for the real plan?

He looked through her purse for any sort of suspicious-looking herb or vial, but there wasn't anything of note. He cast it aside, his mind still spinning with options, and when she finally stirred, her eyes opening slowly, she began to fight the bonds, trying to remove them.

"Caroline?"

She relaxed for a second before stiffening again, clearly still trying to fight off the compulsion. He wondered how she was doing it, but decided to save that question for after he'd dealt with the threat.

"I need to know the exact wording of the compulsion, sweetheart. Can you tell me?"

She took a few sharp breaths, her eyes screwed shut before she spoke. "Kill my brother. Don't stop trying until he's dead," she recited. "And then he gave me the stake. Where's the stake?"

"Gone," he said simply, eyeing her with some trepidation before making his decision. "Now, Caroline. I'm going to untie you-"

"Seriously, Klaus? I'm trying to kill you."

"That's the idea, love," he said, bending to look at her. "He said not to stop until I'm dead. Snap my neck, I'm dead. The compulsion will be gone."

"Oh," she breathed, her body relaxing as he reached for the ropes, as though the compulsion had stopped fighting with her now that she was going to fulfill the instructions.

He untied her easily, and her hands twitched as their eyes locked. He felt frozen in that moment as they looked at each other, the flecks of green in her eyes no less mesmerizing than they'd been the night of the ball when they crackled with loathing. They were softer now.

Her shaking hands reached up to cup his cheeks, and she gave him another nervous glance before his world went black.

The next thing he knew he was on the couch and she was standing over him, eyes wide. She had reached for him as soon as he opened his eyes, and he was half-convinced she was going to snap his neck again when she curled her hand in his henley and the other in his hair, pulling him up to capture his lips with hers.

He'd missed her taste, the way her hair tickled his cheeks when she shifted, the lovely weight of her body on top of his, and it took a moment for him to pull himself out of the haze of his need for her and push her away gently. "I'm so sorry," she said quickly.

"For?"

"Trying to kill you...?" she half-asked.

"It wasn't your fault," he said quietly. "You're safe, sweetheart."

She nodded slowly, her body relaxing against his, and he rubbed her back, attempting to soothe her. He waited until she seemed calm before asking the question that had been burning in his mind since he'd figured out what was wrong with her. "How did you fight the compulsion?"

"I remembered Stefan," she said hesitantly, and he growled, ready to push her away. She snorted, pressing a light kiss to his jaw. "No, not like that. you ass. I meant the way he resisted compulsion for Elena."

He frowned, even more confused. He understood what she was saying in theory, but she couldn't possibly...

She pulled away, her palm on his cheek as she watched him with large blue eyes, somehow both hesitant and sure as she let her thumb stroke over his cheekbone. "I...that day in the woods, I didn't want you to go. I mean, I _wanted_ you to go, but it was because I was scared. Like, I still felt guilty for wanting you, to be with you, and I needed you to leave so that I could just forget you and move on, you know? But then I couldn't. God, I sound like a horrible rom-com, but like, I _really_ care about you, Klaus."

He stared at her, both amused by her rambling and not quite processing the words. Her eyes were wide and nervous and _genuine_ , and he still hadn't gotten his thoughts straight when she spoke again, her brow furrowing. "Hello? Earth to Klaus? Kind of leaving me hanging here."

He kissed her.

 **London, 2052**

"Was that what you needed? To know that we're happy? That we have a relationship that you and my other self could never achieve?"

"Now it is your turn to hold your silence," she said with a curl of her lip, a cutting anger in her eyes so unlike the Caroline he knew. "He is angry, as am I, but at least I know that in the end he will be loyal to me, and I to him. Can you say the same for your baby vampire, Niklaus? Are you secure in her devotion to you? Is she sure of yours?"

Klaus snorted in spite of himself. "Devotion is a weakness which I cannot abide."

"Ah. But it is your weakness nonetheless. Perhaps my other self feels uncertain of your loyalties. Her wish may have been for a deeper connection with you, for a shared history to which you would cling in the face of difficulty."

He swallowed, fear clenching in his stomach. "She knows," he whispered, despite instinctively knowing that she was correct, that his Caroline must have been unsure of his commitment. "I know she knows. If she does not, I'll convince her when she returns."

"Because you're afraid she'll leave you if you don't? Perhaps it is inevitable, as I know that Niklaus would do anything for me, and yet I still ran."

Klaus shot her a disgusted glance and tried to fight down his fury when he saw the curve of her lips.

"I find myself wishing that my husband was as thoughtful as you seem to be," Caroline said quietly, walking to a picture frame that held one of Klaus's sketches and running a fingertip down the wood. "He believes that he can do whatever he wishes. He knows that I will always be his, no matter how badly he behaves, just as he is mine. I loathe his arrogance, though I stopped hoping he would change long ago."

"If you hate him so much why would you return?"

"I love him," she said simply. "Yes, he's possessive and jealous. Obsessive. Violent. Brutal. Quite certainly less sane than you seem to be. But he is _mine_ , and I would never have him any other way," she said quietly, giving Klaus a rueful smile. "I suppose that I too should be careful of what I wish for. I do not mean to offend you of course, but my Niklaus is...different."

He didn't answer, simply observing this...other Caroline as she turned to look at the framed photograph that Caroline had insisted they take at the top of the Empire State Building. It had been the first real stop after he'd whisked her away from Los Angeles just after her confession. She looked radiant.

"She looks happy," Other Caroline said quietly, as if repeating Klaus's own thoughts.

"Caroline is..." he paused, searching for the words he needed, and Other Caroline smiled as though she understood.

"You love her."

"Yes," he bit out, knowing it was unreasonable to feel uncomfortable displaying his weakness in this situation, but nonetheless feeling a bit too vulnerable for his tastes.

Other Caroline glanced at the picture again before turning to fully face him. "I believe this is the closure the necklace required. Perhaps Niklaus and I have our differences and our times of strife, and we're not the happiest couple in the world much of the time, but I know he will always be mine, and I his," she shot him a small smile. "I will speak to him, I suppose. If we are happy in another life, it may not be impossible for us to mend our fractures."

Klaus gave her a grim smile, unsure of how he was supposed to respond, and a few moments of awkward silence passed.

"I'd like some time to myself now, I think," she said quietly.

"There's a free room across the hall," he said, waving his hand in the direction of his bedroom door. "There's a television if you'd like to use it."

She smiled, taking a step towards him. "When your Caroline wakes, I hope she is with you," she said, and he froze when she stood on her toes and pressed a lingering kiss to his cheek. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"You're quite welcome," he muttered, waiting until Caroline swept out the door to sink onto the bed.

Closing his eyes, he slumped against the mattress. He knew he would not sleep, too distrustful of this other Caroline to leave himself open to some sort of attack, but he hoped that _his_ Caroline would be back by morning.

 **Madrid, 2052**

"We've been together for over a thousand years," Klaus growled. "That's a significant amount of time, and she obviously wasn't happy, seeing as she ran."

"Why?"

He glanced at her, his eyes filled with anger. "We had a spat. I've gotten over it, of course. Fifty bloody years. I never thought she'd stay away this long. Stubborn little thing, my Caroline. Manipulative. When I undaggered her she pretended not to be angry. She convinced me that I was forgiven, distracted me with her body and snapped my neck to run, my seed still sticking to her thighs."

"Rude," Caroline said dryly, trying to figure out how to get off the subject of her other self's sex life.

"Indeed. I found her within hours, of course. Told her that I'd give her a week-long head start, that when I finally took her back she'd beg for forgiveness. I do so love the hunt..."

Caroline was growing more and more uncomfortable with this Klaus's behavior by the second. She'd been afraid of Klaus in Mystic Falls; it would have been stupid not to be. In the years since then, however, she'd never feared him purposefully hurting her. She knew that at some point he'd say something he didn't mean (or, even worse, something he _did_ ), or that he'd _leave_ her, but Klaus had never made her feel _small_ like this. Insignificant. Objectified.

"Her punishment for leaving me will be decidedly non-violent," he continued. "Though I assure you that she'll beg for mercy as I remind her whom she belongs to."

"Belongs to?" Caroline asked, wrinkling her nose and trying to summon some sort of bravado. "This is the 21st century, you know."

"It's what gets her off," he said, shrugging before a wolfish grin spread across his face. "And I must say I don't mind it either. It's been difficult restraining myself from making contact."

Caroline felt like she should be disgusted by him talking so frankly about the most private aspects of her other self's life, but strangely she was intrigued, and that made shame build in her gut. It was just _wrong_ , his attitude about owning and _taking_ , as though her other self was a pet that was fooled into thinking it could escape...

"You knew where she was?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Of course. Caroline's resourceful and she can take care of herself, but I do worry."

"So you stalk your wife when she's pretending to try to run away from you?" Caroline asked.

"She's not pretending at all. I have no doubt that she genuinely thinks that I have no idea where she is," he said, waving off her questions as he began to pace. "Back to the subject at hand."

"Yes, back to the whole reversing the spell thing, which is super important."

Klaus let out a bitter laugh, pulling his phone from his pocket. "Right. Of course. What do you need to know for your closure? How miserable she was? How much she _loathed_ me?"

"You've been together for most of your lives though, right? She must have liked you. Maybe she just...needed a break."

"She couldn't have one. I kept her too close. As a result, we fought often. Clashed horribly. Had periods where we slept in the same bed but barely spoke, where we fucked every day but I didn't taste her lips for a decade. She still never left. Hung on until she couldn't take it any longer."

"Weren't you ever happy together?" Caroline asked, suddenly feeling sorry for him and her other self. Had they been trapped in a millennium-long bad relationship? Both too invested to let go, but totally miserable? "Weren't you in love?"

"If I wasn't in love with her I wouldn't want her back, would I?" he said, so softly that she almost didn't hear it.

Her other self seemed to have his unconditional loyalty, and she'd thought that was what she wanted. Now though, she couldn't help but think that if _this_ was complete security in Klaus's feelings, she wasn't sure that she did after all.

* * *

Thank you so much for reading! Did you like it? Did you think the first scene fit in with the rest of the story?

Next chapter we'll get them back to their original universes. Any guesses to how that'll work out?

I'd love to hear your thoughts! :D


	5. Chapter 5

**Here is the last chapter! I gave a preview on tumblr, but there were some changes. I hope you like the result!**

 **Again, a very late happy birthday to Kaitlyn (soapmaniac22), whose stories you should go read right this second. Thank you to garglyswoof for beta work and hissaviourqueen and maevelin for the covers (hissaviourqueen's is the cover on ffnet, but you can find maevelin's on my tumblr)!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **London, 2052**

Caroline woke up naked and in an unfamiliar bed. Quickly realizing it was the guest room down the hall from her and Klaus's room, she slid out from under the covers and looked around for clothing, finding the same slip she'd been wearing when she went to bed the day she'd touched the necklace.

She pulled it on, peeking out the door to make sure no one was around before walking down the hall to her bedroom. She slipped inside to find Klaus sketching on their bed, and he gave her a wary glance when he saw her. It made her heart plummet, her insecurities bubbling up in an unwelcome rush. Had he learned what he could have had with the other Caroline? Was he disappointed that she didn't carry unconditional loyalty and love? What if he decided—

"Come here, sweetheart," he said quietly, and she couldn't quite read the look on his face as she climbed into bed, the uncertainty something she wasn't used to. His arm slid around her, and she relaxed against him, though he seemed tense. She let him gather his thoughts, and it took a few full minutes before he spoke. "Why?"

"You have so many experiences I'll never have," she said quietly. "You've lived for a thousand years, and I'm only sixty. I'm worried you'll think I'm immature and decide you're tired of me. I know who I fell in love with, Klaus, but I'm worried you don't."

Klaus nodded, seemingly expecting her answer, and she felt his hand tighten around her arm as though he was worried she'd disappear. "I didn't at the beginning," he said quietly, and she felt her stomach clench, her body stiffening. He continued, rubbing soothing circles against her hip as he spoke. "I could tell you that I've never felt the way about anyone as I have you, and it would be true, but it would also be irrelevant. For a thousand years the battle between my wolf and the monster I'd become was all-consuming and destructive. An untriggered werewolf is one thing, but that combined with a vampire's heightened emotions is a recipe for disaster... I'd never had the time nor the interest necessary to have any relationship longer than a flight of fancy, and when you caught my interest I didn't expect you to keep it."

"This is not romantic so far. Like, just so you know."

"How I fell in love with you wasn't romantic," he said. "It was terrifying and painful and frustrating. I'd never let anyone under my skin but you somehow managed to tear me apart with just a glance. I hated that you had that power over me. You can't pretend that you thought I liked it."

"I know. It's why you bit me."

"And it's why you told me you forgave me."

She stiffened, unable to fight off the vivid memory of the other Klaus explaining with relish how _his_ Caroline would never leave him, would always forgive him, and she felt a bit sick. "I didn't forgive you because you were allergic to feelings."

He snorted. "You didn't forgive me at all. You knew that I hated how much I wanted you to, and you knew that it was what would save your life. I held you in my arms with my wrist to your mouth knowing full well that the second I let go that facade would drop. You were manipulative and clever and beautiful and so _infuriatingly_ stubborn. You refused to give an inch while staying open to me earning that forgiveness, and that was the woman I fell in love with."

"Okay, but that doesn't mean you won't decide that I'm not good enough or that you're over me or-"

"If anything you'll be the one leaving, sweetheart, and we both know it," he interrupted, glancing at her with a soft gaze that was uncomfortably loaded.

"I wouldn't! I mean, not unless you did something completely stupid."

"And isn't that the summary of our relationship," he said dryly.

She smiled slightly, letting her head fall on his shoulder. "I mean, yeah. I guess."

They were quiet, the air still around them, and she heard birds chirp outside the window as light began to filter through the curtains.

Caroline swallowed and spoke. "But what about the other Caroline?"

"Hmm?"

"Well you can't pretend that the idea of a Caroline that would let you do whatever you wanted and never leave you wasn't tempting."

"If I wanted someone who would let me get away with murder, I'd turn one of those humans that marry imprisoned serial killers."

Caroline wrinkled her nose. "Ew."

"Indeed," he said quietly. "I must admit, your guaranteed loyalty is tempting. I doubt that I will ever stop waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. Still, do not misunderstand me Caroline, I will never let you leave me for good. Eternity is a very long time, and I intend to ensure that you spend the majority of it with me."

"That sounds vaguely threatening."

"I don't make empty threats," he said quietly, and she tangled her fingers with his, squeezing his hand gently.

"Well, hopefully you'll never have to follow through."

She wouldn't stand for him trying to control her, but unlike the other Klaus, _her_ Klaus seemed to genuinely not want to. She loved him and she trusted him. The only way they'd ever find out whether that trust was misplaced was with time, but she had a feeling that it wasn't.

She'd wanted his unconditional loyalty, his guaranteed adoration, but what she'd _needed_ was reassurance, the knowledge that he loved her as a person and not an investment or obsession, that he knew what he was signing up for. It appeared that he did, and that was enough for her.

She snuggled into his side, dozing off even as the morning light grew stronger through the curtains. They'd take their eternity one step at a time, and for the first time she felt truly optimistic about where they'd end up.

It was a good feeling.

 **Madrid, 2052**

He hadn't slept.

The naive little copy of his wife was curled in his bed, not having batted an eyelash when he offered her his shirt to sleep in due to the absence of sleepwear and her unwillingness to be nude. The brandy swirled in his glass as he leaned into the cushion of the chair, watching as Caroline suddenly uncurled her body, wriggling into the position she'd favored for the thousand years she'd shared his bed before shifting uncomfortably.

Her nose wrinkled as she mumbled something indistinct before she'd ripped the borrowed shirt off and tossed it by the bed, burying her face in his pillow, her body relaxing into the mattress. _His_ Caroline never liked wearing anything while sleeping. When she let out a soft mutter of his name, he knew. He got up, setting the glass of brandy carefully on the side table and crawling into bed with her. She hummed softly, wriggling closer to him as though it were instinctive, her face on his chest with her leg slung around his hip, and he buried his nose in her hair, inhaling deeply.

He was relieved that she was back, and her soul therefore unharmed. It had been the first time in centuries he'd felt true fear for her well-being, and he needed to touch her, to see the light in her eyes for him, just to alleviate his discomfort, to know for sure. There was also, of course, the matter of her making the wish in the first place. Did she loathe him that much? Was she so determined to escape him that she'd fled to another universe?

He felt irrational jealousy stir in his gut. Had she grown attached to his other self? The one the baby vampire cared about so deeply? He knew it was ridiculous on one level, but the paranoia of her desiring another, even another version of himself, welled within him after centuries of dormancy. She was _his_ , after all. She had been since she was sixteen with a sharp tongue and wary eyes, and he had no intention of letting her go.

She stiffened as his hand ran down her spine before settling on the curve of her ass, squeezing gently, his thumb brushing over curve of her hip. "Caroline," he said softly. "Wake up, sweetheart."

"Niklaus?" she mumbled sleepily, opening her eyes and shifting to look at him, his hand moving to rest possessively on her hip. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

He nearly laughed at the absurdity of the question, shifting to sit against the headboard and tangling his fingers in her hair once she'd settled her cheek against his thigh. "I was waiting for you," he said simply, an undercurrent of anger bleeding into his tone, and she pouted, staring at him with those big blue eyes that he'd fallen in love with all those years ago...

"You can wait another night. Sleep."

"I do not believe you're in a position to make demands," he said sharply.

She reached to brush her fingers against his jaw, and he couldn't help but lean into her touch, though he still watched her with suspicious eyes. "We'll talk in the morning," she said, her voice soft.

Klaus grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head, making her eyes widen in surprise. "No. We'll talk now. You will apologize and you will beg for forgiveness," he said, his voice low and smooth as he bent to press a light kiss to her cheek. "I'll even consider letting you come if you're a good girl for me."

"Letting me," she muttered with a roll of her eyes, seemingly unfazed by his harsh grip, and he growled, bending to crush his lips against hers in a punishing kiss, thrusting his tongue into her mouth, needing to _taste_ her, and _god,_ he'd missed this... He bit her lips harshly, drawing blood, grinding his hardening cock against her bare thigh when her taste hit his tongue, and she moaned, her legs parting as she lifted her hips to grind against the rough fabric of his jeans.

When he pulled back, her lips were swollen and she looked rather dazed, eyes glassy. She shook herself, gathering her wits before managing to clear her face of expression, though her eyes were still dark with anger and lust. "Let go of me, Niklaus."

"And have you snap my neck again? Have you _leave_? You know that I rarely make mistakes twice, my love. Your heart is mine, and I intend to keep it," he growled, pressing her wrists down for emphasis, and she sighed, closing her eyes and making a show of humming contentedly, arching her back in a mockery of a stretch before opening her eyes, looking at him through her eyelashes tauntingly.

"I'm sorry, Niklaus," she said in a coaxing tone that didn't fool him for a single second. "I missed you."

"Did you, sweetheart?" he asked coldly, tightening his grip and staring down at her. Yes, they were both Originals, but he was still stronger because of his werewolf side, and she knew it. "If you had really missed me, you would have come back," he said pointedly.

"I did come back."

"Only because of the necklace."

She pouted, her full bottom lip stuck out mockingly. "Are you mad?"

"Furious," he said through gritted teeth, and she let out a soft hum, rubbing her nose against his, a cruel facade of playful intimacy.

"Do not be angry with me, my love," she whispered, her eyes wide and pleading, the sparkle in them a clear taunt. "You cannot blame me for-"

"Of course I can."

"Someone's cranky," she muttered with a roll of her eyes, and he moved one hand to tangle his fingers in her hair, not tugging, simply looping the curls between his fingers, fiddling with the soft strands.

"I think I have a reason to be."

"What, because I wanted to take some time away from a husband who knocked me out and stuffed me in a coffin for years on end because I irritated him? In my opinion, I have nothing to apologize for."

"Bit of an understatement there, sweetheart. You betrayed me."

"You know as well as I do that I would never knowingly betray you," she said quietly.

"You ran. That's betrayal."

"And stabbing me through the heart isn't?"

"It was to protect you."

"From what, exactly? The silent treatment?"

He didn't really have an answer to that. Mikael had been gone for over a century, and she was perfectly capable of protecting herself from anything else. She seemed to guess his line of thought and shifted, her teeth sinking into her plump lower lip before she spoke again. "We need to talk, I think."

He felt his blood turn to ice, the loaded words making his stomach sink before he felt rage bloom in his chest. Had this other Klaus poisoned her mind into thinking she wanted to leave him behind?

In the back of his mind, a more reasonable voice pointed out that his Caroline was as loyal to him as he was to her. She'd sooner stubbornly hold out on him until he agreed to her terms than leave him behind for good. Still, the idea of her even _entertaining_ the thought of leaving him made his fingers twitch with the urge to put her down again. To make her stay.

"Talk?" he bit out, knowing his eyes were flashing gold, and she met them unflinchingly.

"Yes. Talk."

"What about, my love?"

She stared at him, her expression more serious than he'd seen in years. "I promise that I will never run from you again as long as you behave."

"Behave?"

"No daggers."

He restrained an eyeroll. "Sweetheart, they're necessary for-"

"I'm completely serious, Niklaus," she whispered, slowly sitting up to look at him, and he practically felt his heart drop out of his chest.

"Caroline, sweetheart, don't cry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"But you did," she said, her voice resolute, and he pulled himself up to sit against the headboard, reaching to turn the lamp by the bedside on before pulling her to sit in his lap, her cheek on his shoulder as he stroked her hair. They had curled together in that position countless times over the centuries, Caroline dozing against him while he sketched or read a book, but he couldn't remember the last time they had, even before he'd daggered her. He was startled to realize that he'd forgotten what it felt like to hold her like this, to just _be_ , and now he knew she needed that comfort, that reassurance.

"I just...I know we can't go back to the way we were a millennia ago, and I wouldn't want to. I love the man you are as much as the man you were, if not more. Still, you can't keep treating me like an object that you prize but can hide in a closet if you wish to keep it out of harm's way. I want to spend the rest of my eternity with you, and it's a bit difficult when I keep being interrupted by a dagger in my heart."

He pulled her closer, burying his nose in her hair and savoring her scent, trying to figure out how to express his thoughts on the matter. "I wasn't aware that it bothered you to this extent," he said slowly, trying to be diplomatic.

She huffed, shifting in his arms to glare at him. "Niklaus, how could it not bother me? You incapacitate me in a coffin, and when I wake, everything's changed. Everyone."

Klaus opened his mouth to speak, but she interrupted before he could get the words out.

"I should not have to rely on you," she said quietly. "And I refuse to. I love you Niklaus, but I simply cannot allow you to control my life any longer. In the parallel universe, my other self is perfectly self-sufficient. Your copy trusts her despite her lack of physical strength, and I wish you could trust me the same way."

"I do trust you."

"Do you really, though?" she asked with sharp eyes that held a glimmer of unshed tears.

"Of course," he said, knowing as the words fell off his tongue that they were true, but not knowing how to convince her. He sighed. "Caroline, you must believe-"

"Must is a strong word, Niklaus," she said, her voice surprisingly dry despite her clear emotion.

"There is no one I trust more."

"Low bar."

"I'll prove it to you."

"How exactly do you plan on doing that?"

He tried to keep his face impassive as he gave it some thought. "I will give you the daggers. All of them."

She seemed to weigh the offer, her face unreadable even to him, before shaking her head. "No. Keep the daggers."

"Then how?"

"Keep the daggers," she repeated. "Actions speak louder than words, especially with you. I do not want to leave you Niklaus, but if you _ever_ dagger me again, I will run, and this time I will not let you catch me. Are we clear?"

He nodded once, and she observed him, her eyes narrowed briefly before her shoulders relaxed and she leant over to press a soft kiss to his lips. He returned it without hesitation, reaching up to cup her cheek. "You're still angry," she murmured against his lips.

It wasn't a question.

"Yes," he said, his voice hard. "You left. You could have said something."

"But would you have listened?"

"Of course," he said, his eyes flashing, though when she stared at him, he knew that he had unintentionally lied. He'd like to think that he would have, but in his heart of hearts he knew that the dagger would have gone straight back in her heart. "Perhaps not," he amended, and she nodded once.

"Agreed. Though I would prefer that we'd solved our problems without it, the chain certainly showed us another perspective."

"Yes. You seem to have taken a liking to the other me."

"Not at all. He was...He made me afraid."

Klaus stiffened. He had no idea what sort of man his other self was, and with Caroline in such a frail form, so helpless... He felt panic well within him, images of how his other self could have abused his strength flashing through his mind, and he searched her gaze, trying to detect any sort of lingering horror. "Did he hurt you?"

"No," she said immediately, and he relaxed. "Not at all. I just... Seeing what would have become of you if I hadn't been there... You were so different."

"I gathered as much from your doppelganger," he said, and she laughed quietly.

"Oh?"

"He's gone soft. Weak. He threw himself at the feet of an impertinent adolescent."

"So did you."

"I was nineteen. He was over a thousand."

"Are you saying you disapprove of his choice in women?" Caroline asked dryly.

"Now, my love, we both know that there's no correct answer to that question."

A small smile flashed across her face. "I did not intend to lead you into a trap."

He pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. "Forgive me if I am not so naive as to think your question had innocent intent."

She let out a genuine, loud laugh, a sound he realized he'd desperately missed the moment he heard it. "Perhaps not."

He continued to stroke her hair, savoring the feel of it between his fingers, and he let his other hand trace her spine, his lips curling into a smile at the familiar shiver that passed through her body when he touched her _just so_...

"I've missed your soft skin," he said quietly, bending to nip her ear. "I've missed the way you taste. I intend to reacquaint myself with your body, my love. I want to see your pretty lips form my name as I fill you with my cock, to watch you grip the sheets between your fingers as you spread your legs for my tongue."

"I missed you too," she said, turning in his arms and moving to kiss him, but he held her back.

"I do recall asking for an apology."

She bristled. "And I recall telling you I have nothing to apologize for. Shall we skip the nonsense where you pretend you can outwait me? I'd rather let you refresh your memory now that I've- _Niklaus!_ "

He grinned as he held her wrists above her head again, pinning her hips to the mattress with his own, and black veins descended down her cheeks as she growled, clearly not having expected this turn of events. "About that apology, love..."

She looked like she might bite him.

Not that he would mind all that much.

She abruptly relaxed, her lips curling into a smirk as she watched him with taunting eyes. "Fine, then. I'll indulge your need for this so-called punishment. What shall you have me do?"

He knew that she was taunting him, that she wanted to make it seem like she was _allowing_ him control rather than surrendering, and he would not stand for it. "There is no indulgence here, Caroline. You will keep your wrists where I've set them. If you do not, I will make you."

She raised an eyebrow before making a show of looking bored as she nodded, though her eyes darkened with lust, and he could smell the arousal stirring at the apex of her thighs, her nipples pebbling in the cool air. "Make me, then," she whispered.

And if that wasn't a blatant invitation, he didn't know what was.

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, and please tell me what you thought of the resolution. Did my interpretation of the biting scene resonate well with you? Did you like how Original!Klaroline made up at the end? How do you feel about the differences between the two relationships? Any other comments?  
**

 **Leaving reviews is the only way I know what you think, and it helps me stay motivated to keep writing! Even an "I loved this!" is perfection!**

 **As always, you can catch me on tumblr at thetourguidebarbie or on twitter at AngieWritesKC. If you haven't already, you should totally check out my other stories.**

 **You guys are the best!  
Hugs!  
\- Angie**


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